linguaholic

I just found this link here: http://www.hskhsk.com/word-lists.html It contains all the necessary HSK Vocabulary for all the levels of the New HSK exams. Enjoy. ps: propz go to the author Alan.

In Chinese for example, thank you is 谢谢 (xie xie). If you say thanks to another person, the other person is likely to say 不客气 (which literally means don't be polite) but is often translated as "You're welcome". It is also possible to answer 不用谢 (bu yong xie）which literally means "dont need to say thanks". There are other possibilites but those two are pretty popular in Mandarin Chinese.

Hi Abe Nice to meet you on linguaholic.com !! if you have any questions/suggestions, let me know and I will be happy to assist you. what about uploading an avatar to make your profile a little bit more exciting? It is very easy: just go to profile and then to forum profile and you can upload your own avatar. regards M

把-sentences // Chinese Grammar First of all something rather easy about the character 把 :angel: The chinese character 把 is used as a measure word for quantifying objects that can be grasped or objects with a handle. Few examples below: 散把刀 (yī bǎ dāo): three knifes 一把椅子 (yī bǎ yǐzi): a chair 一把茶伞 (yī bǎ cháhú): un umbrella That was the easy part about the use of the character 把。however, I believe that you are talking about a different use of 把， as you said 把-sentences. I will prepare a nice little text trying to explain to you what this 把-structure is all about and will post it as soon as I'm done.

It is definitely a good idea. The best homepage to study kanji online for me is : http://kanji.koohii.com/ Register for free and get going. -->this homepage is following/applying the "heisig" study approach. If you are not familiar with that, you can either use the search function here in the forums or you can read about it by checking the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembering_the_Kanji_and_Remembering_the_Hanzi

thank you judhie for that nice definition about the difference of idiom and metaphor. @Fabrice: thank you for your input as well about "kick the calendar". Really interesting how metaphors / idioms are different in different countries (stupid sentence, sorry).

you are welcome james if there is something else you would like to know about simplified and traditional chinese characters, just ask..and if you are lucky I can help you

Today I wouldl like to share an amazing homepage with you guys: www.xiami.com you can literally browse through hundred-thousands of music albums and stream the online instantly and free of charge. The only downside of this page is: it is just available in Chinese. You will, therefore, need a general knowledge of the Chinese language :angel: You will also find a lot of western music on xiami.com..so there is not just Chinese music..you have to check this page out, it is really out of the ordinary.

连...都 sentences are very common, I agree. Let me provide some examples. Hopefully they can help you to understand the "structure" better. sure ! :karate: 连六岁的孩子都参加了这次比赛。 // Even six year old children participated in this competition. 我们家什么都是黑的， 连墙也是黑的。 // At our home, everything is black, even the walls. 她连星期天也不休息。 // Even on sundays he is not having a rest. 哥哥连上课都睡觉。 // My big brother even sleeps during class. purpose of the construction is highlighting the importance of certain elements in a sentence. it corresponds to the word "even" and if negative, "not even".

Disyllabic Prepositions in Chinese Dysillabic prepositions in Chinese like 为了，根据，关于 etc, generally have the following characteristics: They are used before nouns (like monosyllabic prep.) but also before verbs and/or clauses. What's more is that they are often placed at the beginning of a sentence and not directly after the subject (like monosyllabic prep.) To illustrate the use of disyllabic prepositions, I prepared some sample sentences for you and yours :=) Let us start with the disyllabic preposition “为了". It stands for "ion order to" / "so that". It is expressing a purpose and is usually followed by a verb phrase: Sample Sentences for the use of the disyllabic preposition 为了。 为了不迟到，他很早就起来/起床了。 为了买到便宜的戏票，他排了一个小时的队。 为了减少失业人数，政府努力办好教育。 We do not generally use 为了 for casual // every day situations. :punk: When I got time, I will try to explain the other ones...if you know about them, maybe some of you can spread some knowledge too here :wacky:

Study German Homepages As a german native speaker, I would suggest you the following homepages : www.duolingo.com ( actually offer great stuff for many languages). http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/ http://www.goethe.de/ (homepage of the world-famous goethe institute) http://www.surfmusik.de/ ( stream many different german radio channels online and free) There must be many others...however, as I researched on this a couple of days ago I was surprised to see that there are apparently not so many good homepages that are offering quality content for learners of German :frozen: Maybe I should create a new "Study German" homepage :=))

welcome to the forum LinguaFranka :karate: happy Posting ! if you should have any questions about the forum, let me know !

Dear all I am happy to announce that we have a new smiley set installed on our server. the new smileys are: :amazed: :angel: :beaten: :bored: :clown: :frozen: :vampire: :punk: :grin: :indian: :doubtful: :kiss: :nerd: :speechless: :shy: :party: :millionaire: :sick: :devil: :karate: :wacky: :sweating: :emo: :confused: :love: :cry: :santa: :ninja: Moreover I changed the layout for the whole page. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. Have fun in the forums Marcel

Simply put, Schadenfreude is when you are having a bit of enjoyment at the misfortunes of others :=)

Welcome to the forums George! if you need any help in German, let me know. Unfortunately I do not (yet) speak Italian:=) I am sure other members can help you with this matter :=) regards Marcel

你好 丹尼尔。It took my quite some time to prepare an answer for this but finally I am there :=) I hope you will enjoy this little "novel" :=))) Modal verbs in Chinese are very much like those in English (e.g. can, must, should, etc.). They are placed directly before other verbs to indicate particular moods or attitudes. They are generally negated by bù (不) . The modal verbs 要 and 想 are us to express wishes or desire: 我要／想喝啤酒。 /// I would like to drink beer. 我要／想喝一杯咖啡。 /// I would like to drink a cup of coffee. 我要／想喝可口可乐，不要／想喝茶。/// I would like to have a Coke. 你要／想学法语／德语吗？ /// Would you like to study French / German ? It is important to know that in a command or instruction, 要 used with a second-person pronoun can only express obligation: Consider the following example sentences: 你要早点回来 /// you really have to come back early 你要小心。 /// You have to take care (of yourself) 不要对我撒谎。 // You should not lie to me ! / Don't lie to me! We got some more modal verbs in the pipeline :=) Let's talk about 愿意 and 肯 now. Those two modal verbs both indicate "willingness". Consider the following sample sentences: 她肯／愿意帮助你吗？ // Is he willing to help you ? 她不肯／愿意认错。 // She is unwilling to commit her mistakes. Another modal verb that we got in the Chinese language is 敢。 他敢提出自己的看法。He dares to express his own view ( about the topic...) 我不敢去见他 /// I don't dare going to see him. 你敢？ // You dare? 你敢打我？ // You dare hitting me ? :=) Furthermore we also have the modal verbs 应该 and 得. The modal verb 应该 means "ought to" and the modal verb 得 means "have to". 你应该睡了／起床了。 // You should (ought to) sleep. 我得走了。 // You have to go ! Next in line we got the modal verb 必须。 It means must/have to Examples for the modal verb 必须： 明天我必须到达那儿。 /// I have to be there (specific place) by tomorrow (tomorrow the latest) 我们今天必须完成这个工作。 /// we have to finish this work today. Now, as for your question (finally haha) 能 means can/ may / be able to / be capable of and 可以 means can / may 你现在可以走了。 // You can go now 他十分钟能跑一英里。 // He can run a kilometer in 10 minutes 我能进来吗？ /// Can I (please) come one? The modal verb 可以 implies permission from outside authority, whereas 能 refers to the ability to do something in special circumstances: 你不可以在这儿吸烟。 // You are not allowed to smoke here. 我昨晚不能来。 // I was not able to come yesterday night. (I didn't make it yesterday.) Lastly we also got the modal verb 会 that can either indicate a probability like "be likely to" / "be sure to" or inherent or acquired ability/skill: “can", "be able to", "be good at", "be skillful in": 明天会下雨吗？ /// Is it likely to rain tomorrow (Is it going to rain tomorrow?) 你会不会说中文吗？ // Can you speak Chinese (or not)? So, consequently, the difference between 能 and 会 can be illustrated by the following example: 我会开车，但是现在喝了酒，我不能开。I can drive (a car), but now as I have been drinking beer, I am not going to drive. 我会喝酒，但是现在要开车，我不能喝。I drink beer, but now as I'm driving today , I am not going to drink ( I am not allowed to drink ) Feel free to correct me or to give me some props for this rather long text ::=)))

Thank you for the links ! Some of them are quite interesting. Let me share my favorite website to study Japanese (you need to register). This website offers great vocabulary flashcards and a very creative way of studying characters. !! http://kanji.koohii.com/

I am sorry, but what kind of online tutorial are you talking about? I can't follow

Hey guys Yes, this is all for real. If you are not familiar with the Japanese language, it is pretty easy to think that those translations are a joke..but trust me, it is not :=)

Here you go. Please help yourself with the translations of them by entering them into google. I guess it should be possible to find english translations. If not, please let me know so I can help you to translate them. *//* sich ein Herz fassen *//* (schwer) auf dem Herzen liegen *//* jmdm. fällt das Herz in die Hose *//* Hand aufs Herz *//* etwas mit viel Herz machen (angehen) *//* etwas (jmdm.) nach Herzenslust nachgehen *//* jmdm. fällt ein Stein vom Herzen *//* das Herz auf dem rechten Fleck tragen

Interesting question I think that studying languages is easier nowadays, as with the aid of the Internet, you have unlimited possibilities to study ANY language. However, with the raise of the internet and all the gadgets like smart phones, ipads etc, you are also more likely to get DISTRACTED :=) this is a huge problem for some and I am also struggling with this sometimes..as many others do as well I guess. Hardcover dictionaries and encyclopedias are still a very solid resource for studying and I still use them, as I am sure that they provide me (at least most of the time) with quality information and content. On the internet you can find great resources but you also have tons of garbage and sometimes it is not easy to find out whether a source is providing you with accurate infos or not!! : :

well, that certainly is a different kind of quote...not very inspirational, but that's ok :=)) 8)

Hey Brad You are most welcome on linguaholic.com. If you any questions, don't hesitate to contact me (also for requests, improvements, etc). I will be happy to assist you! have a good time here and spread the word regards Marcel

Good Evening Sabraina 8) I try to shed some light on your question about Kanji, Hiragana and Katana. Hopefully you will get my point :=) Kanji Kanji are basically Chinese Characters that have been imported to Japan a very long time ago. You could simply say that you use Kanji for everything you do not use Kana (Hiragana and Katakana for). You will need to know about 2'000 Kanji in order to be able to read a “normal” Japanese Text (of course you need to know the Kana as well).and when I say you need to know 2'000 Kanji, it means that you do not only have to know the meanings of every single character, but you will, of course, also need to know the different character combinations (obviously resulting in different words). Let's move to the next writing system: Hiragana: This is considered to be the first, “original” writing system in and of Japan. You will need this for all the grammar parts in Japanese and for all the words that are simply never written in Kanji for one reason or another. You will also use Hiragana for words that you do not know the Kanji for :=)) Maybe it is good to know also that in Japan, children first start with Hiragana, then study Katakana and then Kanji. They do start at a very young age with all the writing systems though :=)) Katakana : Katakana is mainly used for foreign names/places/objects and loan words. Moreover, “sound effects” (cinema and so on) are often in Katakana and you can also find this writing style in Mangas and in food menues...(and in many other “places”). Romaji ( to complicate things a little bit more haha) You also have the romanized form of Japanese, which is called Romaji. Foreign learners of Japanese often use it, as it drastically simplifies things (at least at the very beginning...on the long run there are plenty of disadvantages using it though). You also use Romaji for typing Japanese on the Computer ( the natives use Romaji as well for typing on the computer). You can compare this to Pinyin in Mandarin Chinese..google it, if you wanna know more about it, please :=))) It is true that all the three writing systems get “mixed up” in normal writing. This, however, is a little bit more complex to explain and we should attack this topic at a later stage :=)

I would like to share some of my favourite English quotes with you here. Mostly inspirational quotes…it’s incredible how much motivation a quote can give you…don’t you think so? Just a few words…but sometimes really powerful! I am not going to mention the author of the specific quotes…there is no special reason for that. Feel free to post your favorite quotes AND the author if you feel like :=) “You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” “Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.” “There is no dishonor in losing the race. There is only dishonor in not racing because you are afraid to lose.” “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” “Friendship is like peeing on yourself: everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings.” “It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.” “I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking” “It's not what you say out of your mouth that determines your life,it's what you whisper to yourself that has the most power!” “What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.” „Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way.“ “Our biggest regrets are not for the things we have done but for the things we haven't done” “You cannot expect victory and plan for defeat.” “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” I am looking forward to see YOUR favorite quotations! Happy Posting